I buy mine - we have something that looks like juniper in the yard, but some arborists told me it is a kind of cedar. I'm somewhat cautious when it comes to harvesting stuff without positive identification - if it's something I shouldn't use, bad taste is a best case.

I occasionally brew a wheat rye ale, OG around 1.050, with juniper berries. Sort of a nod to historic Scandinavian brews. Its a great summer beer.

I generally use 1/4 oz. of berries per 5 gallon batch, added to the last 15 minutes of the boil. That gives a very slight flavor that is hard to pick out.

I have used berries picked from junipers growing close to my home in Montana, and berries purchased from the local hippie health food store. I strongly prefer the commercial kind. They are bigger and not nearly as pungent. I believe they are imported from Hungary.

I bruised the berries in a mortar and pestle right before I pitch them into the BK.

Basic recipe for 5 gallons is:

20-30% rye malt20-30% wheat malt50% pilsner malt

Double decoction or multi-step infusion mash, with rests at 105°-135°-155°F

So here is my report on the resulting beer. It turned out exactly as I hoped with respect to the Juniper berries. I think I hit the right amount of Juniper berries/ time in boil, etc.. It has a piney bitterness that is not overpowering but quite present, and it is hard to discern what is coming from Juniper and what is coming from Hops. If anything I think I'd eliminate the Citra in the dry hopping and go with another piney hop (and I LOVE Citra). I also wonder about my choice of yeast. I usually love the residual sweetness of 1968, but I think I'd go drier with this beer. I also missed my OG by a bit. I didn't think to change the mill gap for the wheat. So I guess I need to brew version 2... But, overall I am quite pleased with this beer. I'm looking forward to comparing the commercial to my clone!

Hi there,I am a homebrewer from Holland (hips) for more than 25 years. If you want to use juniperberries dried, than you should use not more than 1 gram/liter. If they are fresh you can use 1,5 gram. Yust boil them in the kettle for 10 minutes.Norwegian brewers use the branches of the tree while boiling the wort and during fermentation. You can use the branches as a filter during the full grain mash.Be carefull with the berries it can make a your head feeling like a dumbbell You never tried ground ivy or mugwort instead of hops?suc6bierwillumpie

Hi there,I am a homebrewer from Holland (hips) for more than 25 years. If you want to use juniperberries dried, than you should use not more than 1 gram/liter. If they are fresh you can use 1,5 gram. Yust boil them in the kettle for 10 minutes.Norwegian brewers use the branches of the tree while boiling the wort and during fermentation. You can use the branches as a filter during the full grain mash.Be carefull with the berries it can make a your head feeling like a dumbbell You never tried ground ivy or mugwort instead of hops?suc6bierwillumpie

A gruit or similar ale is on my to do list for sure. I've brewed with heather tips instead of hops and with basil instead of hops. not mugwort or ground ivy, or wormwood... yet.

Hi there,I am a homebrewer from Holland (hips) for more than 25 years. If you want to use juniperberries dried, than you should use not more than 1 gram/liter. If they are fresh you can use 1,5 gram. Yust boil them in the kettle for 10 minutes.Norwegian brewers use the branches of the tree while boiling the wort and during fermentation. You can use the branches as a filter during the full grain mash.Be carefull with the berries it can make a your head feeling like a dumbbell You never tried ground ivy or mugwort instead of hops?suc6bierwillumpie

A gruit or similar ale is on my to do list for sure. I've brewed with heather tips instead of hops and with basil instead of hops. not mugwort or ground ivy, or wormwood... yet.

Hi there,If you want to experiment with that; go ahead and read Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers of Stephan Harrod Buhner. I've learned so much of that! Do not brew with wormwood please, to dangerous believe me. I do brew batches of 10 liter when using herbs, because you can't store them for long period. I always make tea first of the herbs i use, to get familiar with the taste in beer.Suc6Bierwillumpie

Hi there,I am a homebrewer from Holland (hips) for more than 25 years. If you want to use juniperberries dried, than you should use not more than 1 gram/liter. If they are fresh you can use 1,5 gram. Yust boil them in the kettle for 10 minutes.Norwegian brewers use the branches of the tree while boiling the wort and during fermentation. You can use the branches as a filter during the full grain mash.Be carefull with the berries it can make a your head feeling like a dumbbell You never tried ground ivy or mugwort instead of hops?suc6bierwillumpie

A gruit or similar ale is on my to do list for sure. I've brewed with heather tips instead of hops and with basil instead of hops. not mugwort or ground ivy, or wormwood... yet.

Hi there,If you want to experiment with that; go ahead and read Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers of Stephan Harrod Buhner. I've learned so much of that! Do not brew with wormwood please, to dangerous believe me. I do brew batches of 10 liter when using herbs, because you can't store them for long period. I always make tea first of the herbs i use, to get familiar with the taste in beer.Suc6Bierwillumpie

Hi there,I am a homebrewer from Holland (hips) for more than 25 years. If you want to use juniperberries dried, than you should use not more than 1 gram/liter. If they are fresh you can use 1,5 gram. Yust boil them in the kettle for 10 minutes.Norwegian brewers use the branches of the tree while boiling the wort and during fermentation. You can use the branches as a filter during the full grain mash.Be carefull with the berries it can make a your head feeling like a dumbbell You never tried ground ivy or mugwort instead of hops?suc6bierwillumpie

I'm curious about the 'head feeling like a dumbbell' thing. I assume you mean that over-dosing can produce a headache. I used a lot more than your suggested 1gram/ liter. I have only tried 1 pint per evening, and I never get headaches for any reason, but I am concerned for others who would drink this.

Part of my issue is, that given how much flavor I got out of the amount I used, I think less would not rise to the level of being any flavor value - at least for my palate.

If you have access to it, Rogue has a 2013 version called Juniper Pale Ale that I recently had. Personally I found it quite nice, somewhat piney with an interesting sweet/citrus characteristic but not at all similar to those flavors imparted by hops. It was not over powering at all and definitely something I would search out again.

I'm curious about the 'head feeling like a dumbbell' thing. I assume you mean that over-dosing can produce a headache. I used a lot more than your suggested 1gram/ liter. I have only tried 1 pint per evening, and I never get headaches for any reason, but I am concerned for others who would drink this.

Part of my issue is, that given how much flavor I got out of the amount I used, I think less would not rise to the level of being any flavor value - at least for my palate.

Hi there,

Indeed headache but with different of that due to overdosis alcohol. I made a strong ale (8 vol% alc, 10 liter) and used 15 gram fresh berries, after that I brewed a 2nd batch with 10 gram dried berries; it was less aromatic. I didn't used hops but a combination of ground ivy and mugwort.I think you should not be worried about others drinking your beer. The aromatic properties of juniper is used for ages against kidney problems, viral infections. Some product of father Kneipp contains juniper.If you've boiled the berries longer than 15 minutes a lot of the flavours is vaporized.I was just warning because overdosage with herbs can happen easily.As I said before. I always make first tea of the herbs (recalculate the dosage) and drink that for a while. And it is always advisable to do some research to find reliable old recipes before the hop period:)bierwillumpie

Funny, that's exactly the way I would describe the way I felt when I drank more than 2 of the beer I brewed with wormwood. I used 0.3 oz fresh leaves (do anywhere near that dry and YOU'LL BE SORRY) for a 5 gal batch of a pretty regular 4%ish brown ale. just made a very strong tea with 2 cups water and poured it into the boil. It didn't showcase the wormwood flavor (I enjoy wormwood tea, actually - had some yesterday) but you could tell it was in there. To tell you truth, its presence oddly reminded me much more of what I would expect from horehound.